i'm a customer

i really haven't created too many custom cards in the last few years, but it was definitely something i enjoyed doing in my early blogging years. completing the dodgers 1978 topps set was probably my favorite effort in the custom card creating realm, although there were some steve garvey cards and a few others that i am proud of as well. the real highlight was seeing a couple of my creations make it to a bigger stage - the espn 30 for 30 on glenn burke featured my 1980 topps creation, and cbs showed a gerry hannahs card i created during their final four coverage one year.  i've also seen a couple of articles online use my card images. of course, it is frustrating to see some of these cards being sold online by jackasses. i know i am not the only one - the late bob lemke and gio have many more creations that are being sold by these people.

anyway, i went and bought some actual printed copies of custom cards recently - not knockoffs by frank and his laserprinter. the first one to show is from gummy arts, and it features a 1979 topps rookie star style card for everybody's favorite mess of a band, the replacements

the back is blank, except for the 'gummy arts' stamp

i became a fan of the band when i first heard 'pleased to meet me' in 1987. it came out around the same time as u2's 'the joshua tree', and both were in heavy rotation in my car and walkman (yes, it was the era of the walkman, and my friends and i would listen to cassette tapes on our van rides to and from our baseball games in the spring of '87). the collector recently posted about his favorite bands from a to z, and in my comment response, i had these guys representing the letter 'r'. i am also a big fan of r.e.m., but the replacements win out.  i saw the mats (short for 'placemats' which is short for 'replacements') live in southern california in 1989, and then again in one of their last shows in 2014 at a minor league baseball stadium in st. paul. in between, i saw frontman paul westerberg live a handful of times here in the twin cities. i am happy to have this card in my "meaningful and just because" mini-collection to represent one of my favorite bands. the title of this post, by the way, is a nod to both custom card making, my purchasing of the custom cards of others, and a song by the replacements.

i also added another card from gummy arts, this 1977 topps-ish glenn burke card

it references the high-five that burke shared with dusty baker which is largely recognized as the first high-five in sports. i never did create a 1977 burke card of my own - just the aforementioned 1980 "final tribute".

here are some other gummy arts cards that i found online. i don't have hard copies of these, unfortunately.

now here are a couple of cards that i won from cards that never were

he printed out copies of the 1968 topps proofs that were never put in to production of tom seaver and bob gibson. both of the hall of famers were captured goofing off for the photographer as southpaws. this might be the happiest you will see gibson on a card, in fact. these cards are available, along with more of his creations through his website.

next up are some cards that i bought from mark at i draw baseball cards. i first saw this card for sale on ebay

that's mark's take on my favorite card of all time - the 1978 topps steve garvey card. knowing that i would much rather purchase the card from the source, i sought out mark's website and saw that the card was part of a set of his interpretation of 10 cards from the 1970's. the checklist is on the back of each card:

i thought the other cards were great, so i bought the whole set. here's a look at the other nine cards

not sure i would have put ron leflore back in prison, but i do like that he was included in the set. there was a separate checklist included that noted my set is number 62/100

as of a week or so ago, there were still some sets available, along with his eighties set. these are definitely worth checking out in my opinion.  mark also signed the back of another card sized item

which was a black and white printout of a dave parker item

this reminded me of another custom that collecting cutch posted a while back regarding the custom baseball card/comic book art print mashups that daniel horine creates at pop fly shop. by the time i saw cc's post, i was too late to buy one of horine's steve garvey creations, but i figured i'd show it here regardless:

cool stuff.  i've seen some other garvey custom items offered for sale online that look to be professionally done. this is something called a "banty red"

and is supposedly a brooklyn dodgers variation according to the listing, and was the 2nd copy offered for sale to date. no word from the seller if he plans to limit the print run though.  here's the back:

someone (not me) paid $97 for that card.

this is another banty red creation

it sold for over $115.

here's another one that's been a mainstay on ebay for a while. this one is called a "monarch corona diamond collection" card

it is based on a 1963 fleer design, and features the garv in an oft-used photo from his big ten days. here's the back:

these are more reasonably priced, but i have no desire to purchase any even though they are better than a lot of the customs i see for sale. no, i am satisfied with the garveys i have created; however, if gio from when topps had (base)balls were to print and sell his garveys, i'd be in. i did buy his 1978 topps custom booklet a couple years back which featured a bunch of cards that should have been.  here's one of gio's steve garvey cards that i really like:

for the record, i also like garvey's actual 1979 topps card, but this would have worked for me, too.